St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church

We should change the way how we train our clergy. Here is one suggestion.

The priesthood would be a five year training program that is conducted locally in the home diocese, on-line with seminarians and professors nationally (and internationally), with yearly coursework at established seminaries.

Olivia Judson describes cooperative relationships between species in nature. It seems cosmic to me - in fact, I think that symbiotic friendship she describes represents how the divine works in nature. She writes:

Recently someone asked me about Gnosticism and Buddhism. I offered this quick response.

Gnosticism is a general term like "humanism" or "mysticism." Many different religions have had gnostic sensibilities - a radical dualism, a suspicion of the body, an interest in secret knowledge. The church rejected gnosticism for several reasons. Gnosticism is anti materialistic and devolved into tight-knit, secretive communities.

The bishops wrote a letter, and it was very nice. There were some promises that were appropriate, simple and clear.

I want to make a couple observations about rhetoric that I've been hearing. I have a more detailed analysis about the entire conflict that I'm slowly working on, but I want to parse a couple phrases.

The vestry and wardens of my church are for open communion. They are all baptized, however, which has made me reflect upon what open communion means.

Open communion is when a congregation invites others to share the body and blood of Christ with individuals who are not baptized. I like the people who endorse open communion, as friends, but it makes me theologically nervous. I do think that there are some good consequences of open communion but want to call attention to a moral hazard that may lurk within such a theological shift.

You may have heard of the atonement.

If you are new to Christianity, the atonement is concerned with the role of the cross and what it revaled about the nature of God and humanity.

The question is why did Jesus die? If Jesus is God, why did God let him be killed? As S. Mark Heim argues: We say both that the cross saves, and it didn't need to happen. This is a crucial paradox (in Saved from Sacrifice: A Theology of The Cross).

Recently, a well-respected bible scholar, Anne Redding, an Episcopal priest, declared herself a Muslim. She did not renounce Christianity, but her affirmations have caused some confusion in the blogosphere.

Rev. John Macquarrie, 87, Scottish Theologian, Dies

Dr. Macquarrie provided us seminarians with the basics of modern faith in Principles. I found his book on the sacraments useful...

By DOUGLAS MARTIN
Published: June 3, 2007

The Rev. Dr. John Macquarrie, an influential theologian whose graceful writing and sagacious melding of existentialist philosophy with orthodox Christian thought offered intellectually penetrating rationales for belief in God, died on May 28 in Oxford, England, where he lived. He was 87.

The cause was stomach cancer, his son Alan said.

Trinity sunday is one of the few Sundays I enjoy discussing theology. The doctrine is a bit confusing as it seems esoteric and obscure.

The Archbishop of Canterbury and Presiding Bishop properly remind us of the precarious context of African Christianity. The devastation of AIDS, and the competition of Islam and Pentecostalism, have made African Anglicanism wary of any corrupting influences upon their faith, a faith that understands scripture's taboos on homosexuality as essential to The Word of God.

Like those who have liturgical authority over me, I do not want to contribute to making international mission more difficult. I want very much to help them with their mission and attempts at reconciliation.